Internet data backup service - recommendation?

I have researched this, and when I feel like actually spending the money, I will buy the Acronis service. I just probably won't do it, then my house will burn down and I'll be very sorry...

richc46 said:

Used and liked by a friend. They often have promotions free for a year etc.

Remote file backup services: Carbonite review

I went to that link and a lot of bad reviews on Carbonite.

Desslok said:

I have researched this, and when I feel like actually spending the money, I will buy the Acronis service. I just probably won't do it, then my house will burn down and I'll be very sorry...

How much will that cost you in a year?

I'm betting you can buy a second external hard disk for less.

Newegg.ca - HITACHI XL Desk 500GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive HXSDNB5001BBB (0S02483) - External Hard Drives

pparks1 said:

Desslok said:

I have researched this, and when I feel like actually spending the money, I will buy the Acronis service. I just probably won't do it, then my house will burn down and I'll be very sorry...

That's exactly the scenario that prompted me to purchase my 2nd USB drive and that's the reason that I keep one at my desk at work. I just rotate it back and forth and keep my stuff offsite in case of fire, theft, etc.

Yeah thats what I am doing now actually. I have a 500 GB USB drive that I backup to mostly so I can unplug it and have it off the grid in case of power surge/lightning, etc. I keep it at work but am not good at bringing it back home to keep the backups current. Funny cause I have been in charge of tape backups for a large company for many years, but then again Iron Mtn comes weekly to pick up automatically. I don't want to lose pictures of the kids and have to explain to my wife. There's only 2 things in this world I'm scared of and one of them is my wife.

CommonTater said:

Desslok said:

I have researched this, and when I feel like actually spending the money, I will buy the Acronis service. I just probably won't do it, then my house will burn down and I'll be very sorry...

How much will that cost you in a year?

I'm betting you can buy a second external hard disk for less.

Newegg.ca - HITACHI XL Desk 500GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive HXSDNB5001BBB (0S02483) - External Hard Drives

I have several extra drives laying around, thats not the point. I don't want another drive with data on it to burn down in a fire, or ge trashed by some other natural disaster. Automated offsite backup is really the only safe way to have an offline backup that is dependably kept up to date, for me at least.

Victek said:

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Regarding data security it shouldn't be an issue if the data is encrypted on your PC before it is uploaded. That is the case with Carbonite - Mozy does the same. Of course you do have to give a certain amount of personal information to an online backup company in the process of purchasing the service, but that's no different then any other online purchase. Extra sensitive data could be manually encrypted before backup, but for me that would be really paranoid :) One advantage to backing up to an external USB hard drive is easy and fast access. Currently I use Live Mesh for data backup and local external drive for imaging. Security is not in the modality, it's in redundancy

I think you missed my point. I'm not worried about encryption. I am more concerned about keeping family photos safe. The problem wth backing up to multiple USB drives is that the drives are still at home. If the house burns down, gets flooded, blows away in a tornado/hurricane, erathquake, etc ALL of those redundant drives get destroyed with the house. Redundancy is great for a hardware failure, but thats about it. ANd even then you can usually recover your data froma failed drive.

If the house burns down, gets flooded, blows away in a tornado/hurricane, erathquake, etc

In my long life, none of those events have ever happend to me. I think Richards approach (store a copy occasionally off-site) would suffice. And if you live in a very endangered area, you could always mail a USB stick to your aunt Cynthia in Idaho.

whs said:

If the house burns down, gets flooded, blows away in a tornado/hurricane, erathquake, etc

In my long life, none of those events have ever happend to me. I think Richards approach (store a copy occasionally off-site) would suffice. And if you live in a very endangered area, you could always mail a USB stick to your aunt Cynthia in Idaho.

In the last 5 years I have been evacuated from my home twice due to wildfires in southern California.